Compare the ways poets present the power of the natural world in ‘Storm on the Island’ and in one other poem from ‘Power and Conflict.

Storm on the island, was written as a one stanza poem, to show the storm that attacks the island as being continuous and relentless, and also to insight the reader visually, as it the poem is structured to look like an island, with no gaps, it is isolated. In the Prelude, by William Wordsworth, the poem is also one stanza long, as its aim is to add to sense of being unhampered by rules, and regulations, trying to express the freedom of Wordsworth in the poem. It is different to Heaney’s poem, as he is described as being under attack by the violent storm, as such is shown in the title, as the word, ‘Stormont’ is the name for the Parliament building in Northern Ireland. He designed this poem as a representation of the hardships faced in N.Ireland as the time, with Ireland, politically, going through hard times as a storm. Wordsworth on the other hand challenges these ideas and uses the power of nature to express the freedom and flexibility of life. He says he could, wander “lonely as a cloud” wherever he liked, just like his poem, unconstrained by fences and boundaries. Heaney’s poem aims at the reader being able to discover these signs and understand, that for him, the time he lived was hard, and the pathetic fallacy used exaggerates the strength and power of the nature on the island. Wordsworth makes the reader take another look at life and to wander or roam around freely, which is contrasted by Heaney who is constraint of the boundaries and edges in a time of such political suppression.

Heaney also uses enjambment to convey two different views in the poem. Between Lines 1-5, there is little enjambment prior to the preparation for the storm, but as soon as it hits, Heaney wants to make the poem flow continuously and also to symbolise the motion of the waves and as they rapidly crash into the banks of the island. Wordsworth uses enjambment to move from line to line with relative freedom, from the first line. “I found/ A little boat tied to a willow tree/ Within a rocky cave, its usual home.” The usage of enjambment is used to symbolise the freedom of the poem with, being able to explore “the horizon's utmost boundary; far above.” It makes the poem slightly harmonious, representing the emotion of Wordsworth, and kind of meandering, punctuation less. This conveys the power of nature as being free and vast, but controllable by humans, and it is for us to explore. Contrasted to Storm on the Island, which uses enjambment to show the power and the vicious attributes of nature. The effect both these poems have on the reader is that by using a free flowing style, for Wordsworth, it underlines his freedom and the vast superiority of nature, by not ending and gives the reader the image that poem, and nature does not end. In Storm on the Island, the enjambment could show the reader of the power that is displayed by the continuous and repetitive waves that crash into the Island. By not allowing the reader to pause, can also show the nerves held by the poet writing in the conditions of the storm, which makes the reader feel anxious, as they are expecting a dramatic ending, as they hold their breath.